A fourth trilogue meeting has been organised on the 5th of May to discuss the revision of the Package travel directive (PTD). An agreement has been reached between the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission.
Business travel:
An agreement to exclude business travel, both managed and unmanaged, had been reached.
Click-through:
The EP accepted the Council’s text on the definition of click-through (transfer of the name + email address+ credit card details) with the inclusion of a 3 years review clause.
Financial security in case of insolvency:
There is an agreement on the fact that the „financial security shall be effective and cover reasonably foreseeable costs”.
Explicit vs tacit approval of the changes to the contract:
Concerning the issue of whether a significant change in the contract should require the consumer’s explicit or tacit approval, an agreement has been reached. Member States are allowed to regulate this issue at national level.
Costs of assistance in the event of Unavoidable and Extraordinary Circumstance (UAC) (3 vs 5 nights)
The EP agreed to the Council’s approach: In the event of UAC, an organiser should assist the traveller to a maximum of 3 nights accommodation (of quality equivalent to the package travel contract), unless longer periods are foreseen in other EU legislation for other transport modes. Moreover, there is a reference in the recitals providing that this directive does not prejudge on any other legislation by the Union in relation to other specific sectors.
The text agreed today will now have to be officially adopted by the Competitiveness Council on the 28th of May. Afterwards, it will be up to the European Parliament to reflect the agreement in its report, during the second reading procedure.
